Dark Sky Wales

06/01/2025

Lunar X and V visible this evening if you get some clear skies! Check out our video for an explanation.

06/01/2025

Lunar X and V explained!

04/01/2025

Well, another day, another astronomical event! This time, Saturn appears from behind the Moon at about 8.26PM. It should be a nice view in binoculars, small telescopes, and a superb imaging opportunity for astrophotographers.

All we need is no Amber Warning for snow!!!!

03/01/2025

What a lovely conjunction! We also caught a meteor. These pics were taken over the Rhondda Valley with a 50mm and 85mm lens.

03/01/2025

What a night for astronomy!

Firstly, we have the conjunction of the crescent Moon and Venus, followed by the Quadrantids Meteor shower. It be great if the weather played ball!!!

The Quadrantids are named after the old constellation Quadrans Muralis. They are seen in the first week of January, and the radiant is in the constellation Bootes. The meteors are of medium speed often blue in color, and their peak activity lasts only for a few hours.

The radiant point of this shower is an area inside the constellation Bootes, not far from the Big Dipper. It lies between the handle of the Big Dipper and the head of Draco. This meteor shower is best seen in the northern hemisphere, but can be seen down to -51 degrees latitude.

The hourly rate of this shower can be as high as two other reliably rich meteor showers, the Perseids and Geminids. Yet Quadrantid meteors are not seen as often as these other two showers, because the peak intensity lasts only hours. The meteor rates exceed one-half of their highest value for only about 8 hours (compared to two days for the August Perseids).

This means that the stream of particles that produces this shower is narrow - and apparently derives from some orbiting body within the last 500 years. The parent body of the Quadrantids was tentatively identified in 2003 by Peter Jenniskens as the minor planet 2003 EH1. This in turn may be related to the comet C/1490 Y1 that was observed by Chinese, Japanese and Korean astronomers some 500 years ago.

01/01/2025

Still a good chance of seeing the Aurora if skies clear! Hope someone gets lucky!!!

01/01/2025

Will it last until tonight? Who knows but keep an eye out if you get clear skies.

30/12/2024

Possible if anyone has clear skies!

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28/12/2024

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28/12/2024

What a beautiful scene for this grey December morning!

Brilliant capture by Image Credit & Copyright: Włodzimierz Bubak

26/12/2024

Loving our hand carved logo!!! A great Christmas gift.

26/12/2024

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25/12/2024

A very Merry Christmas to all our followers!

24/12/2024

Here's one for the kid in all of us! Merry Christmas everyone!

24/12/2024

Love this!

Christmas Tree Aurora (APOD: 2024 Dec 23)
Image Credit & Copyright: Jingyi Zhang
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap241223.html

Explanation: It was December and the sky lit up like a Christmas tree. Shimmering, the vivid green, blue, and purple auroral colors that formed the tree-like apparition were caused by high atmospheric oxygen and nitrogen reacting to a burst of incoming electrons. Collisions caused the orbital electrons of atoms and molecules to jump into excited energy states and emit visible light when returning to their normal state. The featured image was captured in Djúpivogur, Iceland during the last month of 2023. Our Sun is currently in its most energetic phase of its 11-year cycle, with its high number of active regions and sunspots likely to last into next year. Of course, the Sun has been near solar maximum during this entire year, with its outbursts sometimes resulting in spectacular Earthly auroras.

Starship Asterisk* • APOD Discussion Page
https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=241223

23/12/2024

Fabulous image of the Horsehead Nebula taken by our very own Stephen Webber.

22/12/2024

The Ursid Meteor shower peajs tonight!

The Ursids are a meteor shower visible a few days before Christmas. They are associated with debris from periodic comet 8P/Tuttle. This is usually a weak shower, with only a handful of meteors seen each hour. This meteor shower is named for its radiant point, located near the star Beta Ursae Minoris (Kochab) in the constellation Ursa Minor. Ursid meteor activity begins annually around December 17 and runs until the 25th or 26th.

The Ursids were probably discovered by William F. Denning, who observed them for several years around the start of the 20th century. The first coordinated studies of this shower didn't begin until Dr. A. Becvar observed an outburst of 169 meteors per hour in 1945.

Further observations from the 1970s to current times have established a relationship with comet 8P/Tuttle. Peter Jenniskens and Esko Lyytinen discovered that outbursts could happen when comet Tuttle was at aphelion, because some meteorids get trapped in a 7:6 orbital resonance with Jupiter.

The Ursids have a particularly narrow stream, prompting veteran meteor observers to comment that the Ursids "must be a compact stream like the Quadrantids. You have to be within 12 hours of maximum to see much."

22/12/2024

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